Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1887-08-10

WhY, then, ShOuld IL lessen fIartu sofHo"
Why magnify Deaths consequence
To believe in timeless tomorrow?
And life held the scale in suspense.
Neo York Independent.
The Sturp Teller.
THE HAUNTED INN.
MANY years ago, long before the days OF
railroads. there stood in the wild mountain
regions of Western Pennsylvania, large,
rambling, tumble-down building, which
was used at the time of which speak, as
an. inn. It had been built, many years
before by visionary immigrant from
the Old World in imitation of his ances-
trail home. Why such an out-of-the-Way
spot had been selected for home, no one
ever pretended to guess. But certain it
was that the owner had expended all OF
his available means in its erection, ana
had toiled and strived, and finally died OF
8 broken heart, his utter want OF practlcal
training utterly uniting him for improv-
ing and beautifying the hillsides which he
had selected for home. His wife soon
followed him to the grave, and his chill,
dren scattered, no one knew where. And
thus it was that the once pretentlous man.
sion went to decay for want OF q tenant,
and would have rotted to the ground had
not the spirit of improvement and enter
prise finally invaded the region in search
of the hidden treasures of the earth.
When visited the spot, small village
had sprung up around the old house, and
that had been taken possession OF, and the
few rooms not utterly ruined by decay
had been converted into so-called tavern.
The landlord might have starved, how
ever, if he had depended on native Gus
tom, for the old house, during those years
of solitude, had gained an unsavory repu-
tation, and in the absence of other tenants,
many tongued rumor had peopled 1t with
ghosts.
Its reputation had reached me before
visited the place, but as had always felt
an inexpressible longing to sleep in a
haunted room and make the persona! ac-
auaintance of some of the dissatisfied den-
izens of the other shore, was not sorry
to learn that the hauntedinn was the only
place in the town where / could lind a
resting-place.
was somewhat taken aback, however,
when the landlord informed me in broken
English and poor whisky, that every bed
and every room i'm the house was full. L
could not but admit the eternal fitness, in
asmuch as he was full, too !; but begged
him to set his few remaining wits to work
to see if he could not find peg for me to
hang my tired bones upon. After grave
consultation with the landlady, it was con-
down, if l did not mind sharing my room
with another gentleman who had already
retired. There was nothing for me but to
accept the situation, and did so in good
faith.
By the time the shake-down was COM
pleted I had finished my supper and an
nounced my desire to retire Immediate
ly. The landlord was by this time too far
gone to render any assistance, and as the
landlady weighed not less than three hun
dred pounds, excused her from further
attendance and acted as my own usher.
She furnished me with the remains OF q
tallow dip, and giving me few general
directions concerning the location OF the
room, bade me good night.
fortunately stumbled into the right
shake-down. I had JUSTINE, however, to
bolt the door when the light went out,
and it remained for the moon, which
shone brightly into the window, to light
me to bed, and to reveal the location OF
the other bed, on which the stranger slept.
lam not naturally nervous, but confess
that I would much rather have known
who my roommate was, and the thought
of what he might be kept me awake for
some time. To add to my nervousness
the wind had risen, and it whistled through
the cracks and around the gables of the
old mansion with weird and mourntul
cadence, which was anything but soothing
to my tired and already over-Wrought
nerves.
AS lay there, the sounds momentarily
increased in hideousness. l thought OF all
the stories 7 had heard of the cursed old
rookery, and as did so the sounds became
more and more like the shrieks of the
damned, or the wall of a lost soul. l final
lv became so nervous that / resolved to
arise and 60 below.
But now, as rose in my bed for this
purpose, 1 found myself subjected to new
source of annoyance. The mocklng Wlnd,
which had appeared to me more than once
to syllable human sounds, came at length
upon my ear, distinctly charged with tones
which could not be mistaken. 1t was the
hard, suppressed breathing of a man. L
listened still, and it came anew, stronger
and more fully upon my ear. 1t was IKE
the thick aspirations of an apoplectlc:
Whence it proceeded knew not; but that
1t was near me was CERTAIN. n SuSplCloii
of robbery, possible assassination, flashed
upon me, but was instantly discarded as
foreign to the people among whom l was
travelling.
The moonlight now fell upon the cur
tained bed opposite to me, and saw the
tattered drapery move, as if the frame upon
which it was suspended were agitated. 1
watched, 1 confess, with more peculiar
feelings of interest. / was not alarmed,
but an unaccountable anxiety crept over
me. At length the curtain parted, and a
naked human leg was protruded through
its folds-the foot came with dumb, dead
like sound to the floor-resting there, it
seemed to me at least half minute before
the body to which it belonged was disclosed
to my view. Slowly, then, pallid and
unearthly looking figure emerged from the
couch, and stood with its stark lineament
clearly drawn against the dingy curtains
behind it. 1t Itappeared to be balancing it.
self for moment and then began to
move along from the bed. But there was
something horribly unnatural in its mo-
tions. Its feet came to the floor with a
dull, heavy sound, as if there was no vi
tality in them. Its arms hung, apparently
paralyzed, by its side, and the only sign Of
life in the frame appeared about its brow.